Long time NOTE rider Mark Kendrick has been out in South East Asia
since the beginning of the year, and by the looks of things has been
having the trip of a lifetime. Dom Henry caught up with him to get
some more insight into his travels so far, skateboarding in Kuala
Lumpar and his plans for the immediate future.

Photographs by Ameer Hakim.

Kendo! By the looks of your Instagram you've been on a thoroughly
fascinating tour of South East Asia of late, can you tell us the idea
behind the trip and where you've been so far?
Well the only real idea behind the trip was to have as much fun as
possible! We worked like dogs for the best part of a year scrimping
and saving but it was totally worth it. I absolutely love it here. The
climate, culture, people and food (especially the food) are all
ridiculously peng. Delicious rice is rife. Cambodian people actually
greet each other by saying "have you eaten rice yet?", no lie. We
started off in Sri Lanka but were only there for a few days then onto
Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia which we are leaving
now. We've learnt having no concrete plan is the best way to do it. We
normally go somewhere for a day or two, seek a vibe, then decide
whether to stay or up sticks and move on. That way you aren't tied
down to anything. There is too much hype surrounding some places,
whereas other virtually unknown spots have been unreal.
So you're in Kuala Lumpar right now and by the looks of things you've
been skating loads. Was this always the plan, or did you decide to
stay there longer than you originally thought?
I came to KL 2 weeks earlier than originally planned just on my own as
after some online searching I could see there was lots of spots that
looked offensively good and I was going crazy having not skated in
nearly 2 months. I booked the flight from Cambodia and then Kate would
come join me once I'd got my skate fix.
Who are you skating with out there?
When I first arrived I went into WheelLove skate shop to get a setup.
Zhafri, Amirul and everyone I met in there was super friendly and
actually reminded me of the vibe in Manchester, no false pretenses and
very genuine people, so that became my new crew and it worked out
perfectly.
Have you found yourself in any gnarly situations on your travels?
The only really scary thing that happened was when we were on this
really tiny island called Con Dao which is off the south coast of
Vietnam. You can ride the circumference of the entire island in an
hour, small ting. A couple of days after arriving we were on some
hired motorbikes exploring around the island on the coastal road which
weaves in and out of really steep cliffs on the edge of the sea. The
wind was getting really gnarly and blowing us all around the road.
There was huge gust of wind which felt like being hit by a hose of
water from a fire engine, so I had my head down and both feet dragging
on the floor trying to navigate around a bend. When I came out of it
and the wind had calmed down I looked behind and Kate was just gone,
nowhere to be seen so I was sure she'd been blown off the side. So I
turned around and went back whilst frantically looking around to see
her then there she was, sat still shaking her head laughing! She had
stopped and was calling me but I couldn't hear because of the
deafening wind. Later that night I was talking to a local guy and he
said no one goes up there in high winds as there's been a few people
who have been blown off and died on that same road! So deep! Could
easily of been peeled out.
Where the hell did you run into John Cardiel? Couldn't believe it when
i saw that photo!
Yeah he was Djing at the Vans 50th anniversary party in Kuala Lumpur,
he actually walked up to me and said "Hey I'm John" probably because I
was staring and smiling like a lunatic! He's just how you would want
him to be, so humble and full of good vibes. Meeting your hero can
sometimes be a disappointment especially if you form strong
preconceptions of them. Not the case with Cardiel.
Where are you going after Kuala Lumpar?
I'm actually on a plane to the Philippines as I write this! We start
off in Manila then move onto some of the surrounding islands for 3
weeks then fly to Sydney to begin the Australian chapter. Can't wait
to get to Melbourne and be re united with Louie B for some shred
doggin.
You've always been the most musical of the NOTE team, with a history
of playing with touring bands like The Underground Youth and Base
Ventura and a collection of unusual instruments. We haven't heard
anything from you for a while on this front, are you finding any
musical inspiration on your travels?
I've got an increasing number of instruments on my future purchase
list inspired from seeing locals busking in the streets. I just wish I
could of recorded some that I had seen, honestly such amazing
performances on so many occasions. India was the best for that when I
went in 2014, I had a sitar lesson off the son of Ananda Shankar, was
amazing, listen to Streets Of Calcutta if you're not familiar with his
work, any skater will recognise that one.
Did you take any instruments out there with you?
I actually sold my guitar and pedals and lots of other stuff to help
finance this trip! Had to be done. I'll have a noodle on a guitar if
I'm round at someone's house but that's pretty much it at the moment.
That's one of the only home comforts that I'm actually missing, apart
from chip butties. Really looking forward to having somewhere where I
can write, play and then record some new music, I've lots of ideas I'm
keen to get going on so watch this space.
I was really stoked on the full part you put out last year, can we
expect any footage to crop up from your current travels? have you got
your girlfriend filming fisheye like you did when you went to New York?
Haha I haven't had Kate on filming duties on this occasion, she put in
good time in America though and totally nailed it. When you gotta log
you've gotta log right? Amirul has filmed all the tricks in this
interview and a couple of others for his project, a local Kuala Lumpur
vid which should be out soon.
Are you ever coming home to Manchester?
I genuinely have no idea when I'll next be back in the UK! I've got a
12 month working visa for Australia, going to set up camp in Melbourne
which has such an amazing scene and see what happens there. Splodge
can you please organise a NOTE trip out here for everyone? Maybe just
stay for a few months? Rad, sorted then.
We miss you Kendo , I hope you enjoy the rest of your travels ! Is
there anyone you'd like to thank?
Massive thank you to Zhafri and Amirul for putting me up whilst in KL,
Ameer for shooting all these photos, Aiman, Splodge and everyone at
NOTE, Jerome at Out Of Step, the whole Manchester scene and my girl
Kate. Safe!